Thursday, 18 June 2015

War-Gods of the Deep celebrates it 50th anniversary with a re-mastered HD release

Vincent Price and Tab Hunter square up in the 1965 AIP fantasy tale, War-Gods of the Deep, co-starring Mary Poppins’ David Tomlinson and Susan Hart (Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine), which gets a newly re-mastered US release in HD on 11 August from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

This faux Jules Verne adventure was titled City Under the Sea in the UK in a bid to cash in AIP’s Poe cycle of films which officially ended when Roger Corman jumped ship after the excellent Tomb of Ligeia. It was also the last feature by the once great director Jacques Tourneur, who also helmed 1964's The Comedy of Terrors. Check out my review of the Blu-ray release HERE

Released in the US on 26 May 1965 and in the UK in June of the same year, War-Gods is nothing as exciting as the synopsis that I found on Amazon makes out, but which echoes AIP's OTT exploitation marketing techniques of the period… 'This turbulent thriller pits gill-men against he-men, with a sexy woman caught between and surges with excitement from initial fade-in to climatic fadeout. When a slimy, gilled monster from the deep kidnaps the beautiful Jill (Hart) it'll take her boyfriend (Hunter), his sidekick (Tomlinson) and his sidekick's sidekick – a rooster – to get her back! Following her trail into the deep, they are shocked to discover a lost underwater city, ruled by a ruthless captain (Price) and an army of mutated sea creatures, who imprison the hapless landlubbers... while a restless volcano threatens to bury them all!'

For me, the only reason to add this damp squib to my Vincent Price
film collection is the special feature – an interview with Tab Hunter. Can't wait to hear his version of how this got made. Expect a full review in August.